Do you learn in a traditional setting?

[prplchknz]

I mean like a classroom in the traditional mannner? Or are you different. I don't learn in the classroom, I tend to learn best with a combination of hands on seeing how it relates to my life (it can be loosely related, but there needs to be a connection, or else forget it) and one on one. I get bored and feel like the teacher goes too slow in a classroom setting, so i'll pay attention for a little bit then get bored wander off in my mind come back and have missed 3-4 important key points. I also don't learn from reading, unless it's my interest of the month. I need to either do it, hear it, see it physically, or speak it.

 

[cafe]

I learn well in a traditional setting. When I was in elementary school I did not. Or maybe I did, but they kept going over the same stuff repeatedly and I got bored and zoned out. I'm not sure. I never got good grades but I did well on the standardized tests in every subject except for math. I learned how to cram effectively in high school and I've done okay when I wanted to ever since then.

 

[Habba]

Naturally. I almost never had to read for any exams and I got to go to the college I wanted. There I had read a little bit more since not everything was being discussed at lectures. But I'm pretty sure my studying is much more relaxed compared to others. I thimk it's Si.

 

[Phantonym]

I get bored and feel like the teacher goes too slow in a classroom setting, so i'll pay attention for a little bit then get bored wander off in my mind come back and have missed 3-4 important key points.

This happens to me all the time.

To me, taking classes in person is usually just a huge waste of time. I either get hypersensitive to the people and the surrounding environment, or completely space out with my thoughts. Either way, it's very distracting and not good for learning.

But I do like when the teachers are enthusiastic, passionate about their subject matter, exhibit their great personalities and make the subject interesting. Then it feels great, and I can remember the oddest little things that are interesting to me. Unfortunately, these are mostly not the things asked on the exams.

I like online classes when I have complete control over my schedule. I learn best by writing out the important information I've read or heard. Once I've seen something in a book or on handouts, I can easily remember it during exams.

 

[cafe]

I take notes as a way to stay focused on the lecture. If I don't do something active to divide my concentration up, I will get bored with the rate of information and my mind will wander. I may never look at the notes but if I didn't take them, I'd either have to fidget in some other way or I would only recall about a fourth of what was said in class. Taking notes works best because in addition to not being distracting to other students, it makes you look studious to the instructor, which can never hurt.

I have a very difficult time staying on task with things that don't fully engage me. If I'm doing chores, I listen to audiobooks or I'll think of something else I meant to do and wander off and leave things half done. Music does not engage enough of my brain to work for more than a few minutes. I have to have my brain engaged enough that my body can go on auto-pilot for washing dishes and stuff like that. Wireless headphones are lifesavers for me.

 

[Evo]

Depends on your definition of learning.

If you mean: commit to memory by repetition, then no, I don't learn in that fashion, or that setting.

I can learn in the sense of: gaining the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, in an environment where I'm able to have the questions "why" and "what" answered.

Not by being told "how" to learn it.

I will learn it if I'm curious to learn it.

If you tell me I have to learn it for such an such reasons that I care little for, then I will barely read the chapter, pass the test/class with an A, and remember nothing longterm.

I find the idea of homework to be worthless

I also don't like umbrella testing. Nor do I understand how anyone can thrive in either one of those environments.

 

[baccheion]

Sure, as long as no one bothers me. I learn even better on my own, but I procrastinate more. I have to do everything right there and then, then sleep on it, then the next day think deeply about it, then I've learnt it forever.

 

[five sounds]

I definitely have my own little tricks to making it work for me.

I tend to participate a lot in class just to keep myself actively engaged. I also must be doodling or have some kind of like side-project i can turn to if my concentration is starting to fade. Study-wise, I'm a crammer, but I usually retain a lot from lectures just from sitting in the room, so I'm generally just cramming the little facts and details and am pretty good at catching the overall ideas. I also happen to be a good test-taker, and don't get nervous about them, so I think that helps.

I hate having to give presentations and group projects generally. I'd much prefer to write papers. Homework is really hard for me to keep up on. I don't think I've ever had perfect attendance.

 

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

Hate the idea of institutionalized education. Always did.

To quote my man Schopenhauer again:

"The ordinary method [of education] is to imprint ideas and opinions, in the strict sense of the word, prejudices, on the mind of the child, before it has had any but a very few particular observations. It is thus that he afterwards comes to view the world and gather experience through the medium of those ready-made ideas, rather than to let his ideas be formed for him out of his own experience of life, as they ought to be."

 

[Ginkgo]

In a way, I had to learn how to learn. As a kid, I tended to absorb information through osmosis. Somewhere around my junior year in high school, I realized that I would have to crank it up a notch in order to succeed. I fiddled with different educational tools in order to reverse process information. Once you can reverse process a concept, you've evaluated it and can apply it to other solutions and problems. For instance, if you understand the basics of biology, then you can see how the information serves as a subset of biochemistry. If you prompt yourself to teach others what you've learned, then everything ought to click.

 

[skylights]

I learn well seeing things visually, learning theory, and writing things down. So if those elements are present, I do fine. Typically traditional learning has been fine, though admittedly much of my detailed learning occurs right before an exam when I actually read the texts and make my own notes.

I tend to participate a lot in class just to keep myself actively engaged. I also must be doodling or have some kind of like side-project i can turn to if my concentration is starting to fade. Study-wise, I'm a crammer, but I usually retain a lot from lectures just from sitting in the room, so I'm generally just cramming the little facts and details and am pretty good at catching the overall ideas.

Same here, exactly.

If you prompt yourself to teach others what you've learned, then everything ought to click.

My dad's taught me and my brother that, the "med school" way - see one, do one, teach one.

[MENTION=360]prplchknz[/MENTION], there are theories out there that everyone does better learning experientially/hands-on, which I tend to believe.

 

[Cellmold]

I'm trying to think of anything I learned from school that has stuck with me beyond basic reading, writing and numeracy skills.

I remember my headteacher at the teaching unit, (I got kicked out of secondary school in my first year and was sent to a place for people with behavioural issues), teaching us this mnemonic phrase in order to show us how to memorise certain sentences.

However I have completely forgotten the word or the sentences and I did so immediately after the class, despite him claiming we would never forget it after this. I actually paid a lot of attention too.

I never...ever studied for anything....ever. I did try a few times, but no method ever demonstrated, trained in, explained, or self taught seemed to cause a retention of information.

 

[kyuuei]

I definitely do. Doing other things outside of the classroom helps a lot--but I am seriously struggling with online classes. I have two of them now, have taken them in the past, and I hate them every time. I just do. I always memorize and mind-dump the material. (It doesn't help I'm not passionate about the subjects I study online--I just need them for the things I do want.)

The best for me:
- Read the book before class
- Go to class and ask questions when what I understood is different from what the teacher is now explaining
- Play after class. (If it's anatomy and physiology I play games and look at bone pieces. If it's math I play math games. If it's science stuff I look at videos and flash cards.)
- Do my homework the next day and look up the things I guessed on the homework for.

 

[kyuuei]

I'm trying to think of anything I learned from school that has stuck with me beyond basic reading, writing and numeracy skills.

I remember my headteacher at the teaching unit, (I got kicked out of secondary school in my first year and was sent to a place for people with behavioural issues), teaching us this mnemonic phrase in order to show us how to memorise certain sentences.

However I have completely forgotten the word or the sentences and I did so immediately after the class, despite him claiming we would never forget it after this. I actually paid a lot of attention too.

I never...ever studied for anything....ever. I did try a few times, but no method ever demonstrated, trained in, explained, or self taught seemed to cause a retention of information.

I would say just by this post you were also not passionate about anything you were being taught or attempting to listen to. Maybe you knew you needed it for whatever reason--but you didn't truly enjoy the subject of its components.

I never studied for history, but I had so much fun in the lectures and learned so much so quickly I never needed to.. It clicked with me. I only needed to memorize a few dates as I was bad with those. In comparison, I studied a lot for trigonometry which was the first math class I ever encountered that turned out to be difficult for me, and I couldn't tell you how to do any of it like 1 week after class.

When it comes to studying, you have to study what you like or you'll never retain it. I'm enjoying studying French--and I definitely forget much more than I retain during my studying, but it is a new word or two here and there each day.

 

[WALMART]

I bend the classroom to my will for understanding.

As [MENTION=18819]nicolita[/MENTION] mentioned, participation was (is) always my strongest suit in terms of understanding. Once my sister dated a class mate coincidentally, he said I got "very into" the class.

 

[Cellmold]

I would say just by this post you were also not passionate about anything you were being taught or attempting to listen to. Maybe you knew you needed it for whatever reason--but you didn't truly enjoy the subject of its components.

I never studied for history, but I had so much fun in the lectures and learned so much so quickly I never needed to.. It clicked with me. I only needed to memorize a few dates as I was bad with those. In comparison, I studied a lot for trigonometry which was the first math class I ever encountered that turned out to be difficult for me, and I couldn't tell you how to do any of it like 1 week after class.

When it comes to studying, you have to study what you like or you'll never retain it. I'm enjoying studying French--and I definitely forget much more than I retain during my studying, but it is a new word or two here and there each day.

Well I agree.

I did think of adding to my post that it's about interest. You could say that for most people, but I think motivations differ. Some might memorise better because they are taught it is important and so they think it is.

Others for a specific goal. And then there are those where it has to hold some interest in order to be retained. I could probably try to practice and memorise the periodic table every day, but I doubt it would stick unless I had some burgeoning interest in it already.

 

[Such Irony]

Depends on what it is. If it's a topic that's more theoretical that doesn't require as much hands-on practice, then yes. For some things, there is no substitute for real hands-on experience. Like Driver's Ed, you can learn the rules of the road by reading the Drivers Manual and sitting in a classroom but it's a whole different thing to actually be driving the car on the road.

It also depends on my interest in the topic and the quality of the teaching. I feel asleep during most of my history classes- partially to blame on poor teachers.

Overall, I learn better though by reading it on my own and being allowed to try things out for myself.

 

[kyuuei]

Well I agree.

I did think of adding to my post that it's about interest. You could say that for most people, but I think motivations differ. Some might memorise better because they are taught it is important and so they think it is.

Others for a specific goal. And then there are those where it has to hold some interest in order to be retained. I could probably try to practice and memorise the periodic table every day, but I doubt it would stick unless I had some burgeoning interest in it already.

I think it does require both interest and at least one other factor of motivation to learn something and actually retain it.

For example, I am highly interested in Japanese culture, and read about it all the time.. I couldn't tell you half the stuff I read because I have zero motivation factors pushing me to retain the information. I read it, enjoy it in that moment, sometimes I remember it, most of the time I don't.

In comparison. I am interested in learning French, something I have been looking at for a much shorter time than my Japanese example, but I have already retained a lot of information--because I have the motivating factor of going to a French speaking meet-up group, and they force me to talk there which sort of forces me to actually try to memorize what I am practicing.

 

[Galena]

I can perform successfully in one, but outside that, don't retain very well unless I am sincerely concerned with the topic. Unfortunately, being taught about something by somebody else easily can kill my interest in that something, singlehandedly. The silver lining is that I know clearly and specifically where my real aptitudes lie because my interest in them survived education. If all it takes is authority to knock down a passion, it wasn't a passion to begin with.

 

[cafe]

You aren't, IMO, supposed to retain most of the information you learn in a class. You're building neural pathways and frameworks, etc. You kind of get the scaffolding, then if and when you need the specific information again, you have an easier time finding it and retaining it for use. If you don't use the information in some way, there isn't any reason for your brain to keep it where it can be easily accessed. Bits and pieces will be floating around, but that's all.